Staff ready to quit over ‘poor’ workplace technology

A fifth of the UK workforce would quit due to poor workplace technology, according to joint Dell and Intel research.

In the Dell/Intel Future Workforce Study, it is shown that while the majority of UK employees are happy with their jobs, almost half of them believe their current employer is not effectively making use of the latest advances in technology.

The commissioned research polled nearly 4,000 full-time employees at small, medium and large businesses across ten countries. In the UK, 43 percent do not believe they will be working in a smart office within the next five years, and more than a third (36 percent) say their current workplace technology is not as innovative as their technology at home.

“Today’s workforce has a growing expectation that their employers should integrate the latest technologies seamlessly and securely into their working lives,” said PJ Dwyer, vice president, client solutions, Dell EMEA.

“Employees have seen first-hand the ways new technologies can help them do their jobs better, and are hungry to use the latest advancements to be more productive. While this may seem daunting to many employers, it’s a business-critical opportunity for companies to be at the forefront of the future workplace and enable the future workforce.”

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) innovations could impact the workplace sooner than we think, as half of employees in the UK would be willing to use VR/AR in their professional lives.

The most frequently cited user cases for these new technologies include training on new skills in realistic virtual environments (24 percent), problem solving or coming up with new ideas through 3D visualisation (15 percent) and presenting to clients using immersive technologies (11 percent).

Additionally, over half of millennials (54 percent) and half of remote workers (50 percent) in the UK believe that the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) will make their jobs easier by eliminating complex repetitive tasks.

70 percent of millennials in the UK say that a new job’s available technology would affect their decision on whether to take or decline the position.

@AntonySavvas